Quizzes and Polls: Customer Data Beyond Blue Skies

May 7, 2018

Customer data is like forecasting the weather. When done with skill, it offers a telling glimpse of what’s on the next front. When done poorly, it can result in a mess of misleading information that leaves your understanding even cloudier than before.

The good news is that the process of gathering customer data is more science than pure prognostication. With the right tools and mindset, today’s experiential marketers can gather reliable and helpful data that yields actionable insights about customers.

Why Customer Data?

CMOs are ravenous for data, but vast spreadsheets of statistics are not the end goal. What your CMO is really after is insights. What do your customers want — and more importantly, what will they want six months from now? Finding out requires a creative approach. (Good thing that’s your M.O.)

Read on to learn how quizzes and polls may be just the tools you need to get inside your customers’ minds, no telepathy required.

Quizzes

One of our clients, a giant in the medical device industry, created an entertaining quiz to determine what their customers (doctors) knew about their products. Leveraging the competitive streak inherent in many doctors, they gamified product information and drew a crowd to their trade show booth as participants endeavored to answer the most questions correctly. The energy was infectious (in a good way) and our client was thrilled at the results.

But they didn’t stop there. Remember, the real prize of this game was data. Our client used the quiz results to understand what their customers knew (and didn’t know) about the product. They used this insight to shape future training efforts, focusing on the questions most doctors missed.

Polls

Remember that the most important people at a show might be the ones who aren’t buying from you. Data can tell your sales team why, and polls are the perfect tool for this application.

Learn which of your product offerings are most valued. Learn about perceived problems in your customer care. Learn which cities customers would be most likely to fly to for a branded event. Polls give trade show booth visitors (who may or may not be your customers) a chance to tell you exactly what they want — and give you a chance to adapt to their requests.

Next Steps

The data that you gather from your customers is not its own reward. It’s the means to an end: insights that drive strategy, and ultimately become core to your strategy.

With quizzes and polls, your customer gets an engaging experience; your CMO gets predictive insights. You get the credit.